House of the Brave: chosen family in the drag community

A drag queen may either pick or be given a drag name by a friend, sometimes called a “drag mother”, the so named thus becoming known as a “drag daughter”. Drag mothers and daughters have a mentor-apprentice relationship. Drag ‘families’ were part of ball culture and drag ‘houses’ until the 1960s.

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What is chosen family?

A chosen family is exactly like the name suggests: a group of people who deliberately choose one another to play significant roles in each other’s lives. This is a common dynamic in the queer community, stemming back to the days of Stonewall and Paris is Burning. Often, a person would come out to their biological family and be disowned or thrown out of their home. They would find support through their community, and often more prominent members of the community would ‘adopt’ people who found themselves in dire circumstances. Dust explained how the history behind ‘chosen family’ plays a part in her own relationships.

“Chosen family or Queer family is a group of people who love you for one hundred percent of who you are. Dating back to the 80’sand the AIDS crisis, it was people who literally needed to be taken care of. They didn’t have a home, they didn’t have a sense of direction, they didn’t have any of these things. And so, your queer family who took you in, you would take care of each other. You would live under one roof with a set of rules and values and pitch in.”

In a modern sense, familial terms are sometimes used by drag performers to describe their mentors, people in their closest circle, and the person who first exposed them to the art form.

“When you go about making a drag or queer family, it takes work. You have to want to have them be your family and to have them in your life.” – Dust

Drag families, while all having a similar origin, mean different things to different queens. Dust named her family “House of the Brave” to showcase the individuality of her and her children. Biological or not, every family has differences. However, Dust and her drag children stress the love they have for each other is unconditional and worth the work.

“It’s not all love, and as it shouldn’t be. It’s a family! Families fight and disagree, but at the end of the day, what I always say to my kids is you may not like them right now and they might not like you right now, but that’s ok, because we are there for each other in the long run.”

Some performers air on the more traditional side of things, opting to stick with customary female impersonation. Others take the art one step further- blurring the line between traditional gender roles and becoming something all of their own.

The Cooper Do-nuts Riot was a May 1959 incident in Los Angeles in which drag queens, lesbians, transgender women, and gay men rioted; it was one of the first LGBT uprisings in North America.

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The first recorded use of drag in reference to actors dressed in women’s clothing is from 1870.
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“I use the term drag queen sometimes. I don’t fully identify as a drag queen. I use it for people who don’t understand drag, because drag for me, is a gender-less odyssey.”

Dust explained her character is inspired by the suburban house mom with big dreams- she opts not to “participate in wig culture , wear extravagant jewelry or fancy drag costumes because homemakers are busy and practical.

To those unfamiliar, Drag is heightened gender performance, and is often offered as social commentary on gender. Drag queens perform exaggerated femininity. Just like femininity in real life, they can take lots of different forms and can be performed by anyone of any gender.

Vancouver has the largest LGBTQ+ scene in Western Canada. Davie Street is the hub of the city’s flourishing queer community that many drag queens call home. Our chosen star, Dust, is one of countless drag performers across Vancouver. The city is blessed with numerous venues that frequently host drag performances. Some of the main venues include: Junction, Café Deux Soleil, The Cobalt, The Biltmore Cabaret, XY, and Celebrities Nightclub.